Read The Experience of Placeby Anthony Hiss Online

'The Experience of Place' offers an innovative and delightfully readable proposal for new ways of planning, building, and managing our most immediate and overlooked surroundings....

Title

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The Experience of Place

Author

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Anthony Hiss

Rating

:

ISBN

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9780394568492

Format Type

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Hardcover

Number of Pages

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233 Pages

Status

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Available For Download

Last checked

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21 Minutes ago!

The Experience of Place Reviews

Bethany2019-02-11 06:47

Hiss’s unique contribution in The Experience of Place is his emphasis on individuals’ firsthand encounters with their everyday built environments, and how taking this specific view of such environments can alter how communities perceive their relationships to the natural world, to other communities, and to members of their own communities. He proposes that thoughtfully-planned built-environments fundamentally expand their users’ consideration from one or two pragmatic functions to a range of possible uses (social, emotional, and imaginative). Throughout the book, in the examples Hiss uses to support his argument, he insists on the primacy of the experience of individuals who routinely pass through familiar built environments. He has a special gift for evoking places in such a way that his personal attachments are absent, leaving just the perceptions prompted by their material features and layout. He lets spaces affect him as he traverses them, not pausing to focus on any one thing long, yet registering his responses as they occur. Hiss argues that spaces designed to intrigue and attract users (through a range of techniques that vary according to the larger social and geographical context) yield qualitatively different responses than do spaces designed from strictly commercial or utilitarian perspectives. The book is about discovering which types of built-environments produce optimal outcomes, both concrete and intangible, for the people who live and work in and around them, and explaining how planners are creating such spaces. Hiss describes efforts to collect and interpret data on human attitudes toward their surroundings, explains historical trends in American sprawl and development, and cites many insightful passages from older works on creating communal spaces that promote the wellbeing of the people who use them.

Adam2019-02-07 01:35

The physical experience of place is in inescapable phenomenon. Yes, the cognition of such experiences is often ignored, suppressed or mis-attributed. Hiss's book is an attempt to call our attention back to these sensational experiences, both for our individuals' sake and for the benefit of the public at large.Examining the differential experiences of the city and countryside, the book culminates in advocating for a 'regional approach' to planning. An idea that is much more comprehensive than I am willing to digest in one sitting but enticing enough to warrant further exploration. Much of the idea revolves around creating public value and organizing development patterns in ways that create healthy natural, social, economic and political places that feed our underlying biological inclinations.While planners and developers have much to gain (if they take the time to concern themselves with a scale beyond the myopic profit driven motive), Hiss offers the individual reader and equally refreshing experience. Exploring what he labels simultaneous perception, the author calls readers' attention to the everyday phenomenons that are all too often taken for granted. Posing, and answering questions such as why some places seem inviting and bustling while others are uncomfortable and go unused.I have often tried to explain the experience of place and while Hiss doesn't do it entirely, the book reaffirms for me that these feelings are not simply of my own creation but may have deeper physiological explanations.

Christopher2019-01-27 06:41

This was a pleasant and informative read about some topics in geography that I enjoy– urban and landscape planning, sense of place, thoughtful and responsible development. I particularly enjoyed the reflections on the charm of urban landscapes that tap into a sense of awe and channel inner human instincts about perception and movement. I also appreciated encountering examples from areas in New England with which I am familiar about how to balance development with preservation of beautiful working landscapes. Even though the book is now somewhat dated, and some of its hopes have not fully come to fruition, I valued it as a reminder to maintain and enhance my own sense of connection to place.

Edipalma2019-01-26 06:40

This one seems timely again (or is that still?) How can we build withoutdesecrating the landscape, for instance. I read this a long time back, when it first came out and the one part I remember dealt with a housingdevelopment in Vermont. It didn't take up much room, but was planned soas to create minimal disturbance in the landscape, giving each houseboth privacy and community. Not a bad goal for now, though what we appear to need are more cities and villages and few suburbs...perhaps he'll write a new book, but until he does, if you're interested in land use anddoing away with the mall-blight ugliness we've lumbered ourselves with you'll find this an interesting read.

Beth Anne2019-02-15 07:40

Picked this up somewhere for 50 cents and wasn't sure about it (would it be out-moded?) and was pleasantly surprised. Learned new things, found other things I wanted to learn more about (Mary Cassatt's brother was a PA railroad president, and designed some great innovations for the rails)...the only section that was sort of adorable was a part about the importance of designing multiple map views so an understanding of the vision of development on a space can be seen...well, thank goodness for GIS and computers. Recommended, either way.

Spotsalots2019-02-13 07:37

I'm baffled that it took me forever to finish reading this, as it's really quite a wonderful and enjoyable book dealing with our sense of place and looks at ways architects, urban planners, ecologists, and so forth can create sustainable, appealing community--it considers urban spaces, suburban and village, rural; parks, office buildings, you-name-it. I plan to include reading(s) from it in my Modern Architecture course next fall.

Amy2019-01-25 07:54

This was a powerful examination of our relationship with the landscape. The one statement that really stuck with me: "...Western Europeans and Americans have been carrying around with them as part of their mental baggage a deeply felt and despairing assumption that progress demands degraded surroundings."

carolyn2019-01-26 01:54

Urban/rural planning that supports growth and quality of life. Oh the strip malls never should have come into existence. At times it seemed a bit dated yet many of the concepts in this book are still ignored by surburuban sprawls and disappearing farmland. We still haven't smartened up. We really can do better.

Rae2019-02-17 06:54

Using New York City locales as examples, the author discusses how our working environment (buildings, parks, streets, offices) affect us physically and psychologically. I was especially taken with the ideas about how much space people need around themselves while conversing. The book is a bit dated now, but his conclusions are still valid.

Sam Finger2019-01-29 05:48

truly great book about place and includes s many loved places--Grand Central Station, Times Square, farm country, parks. The prose is breathtaking too. I studied this in class and it's my favorite all semester.

Cynthia2019-02-08 08:51

Fabulous ideas. I learned a lot from this book (for example, how the opening to a park is designed strongly determines whether passers-by go into the park) but the writing was uninspired. I hate academic work that is hard to read! Make it compelling!

Sam Finger2019-02-09 03:47

this book is absolutely awesome. I read it for my class and I love it. The author knows so much and says it so clearly. Great book, with deep ideas. Gave me a new appreciation of all the places I know and love.

karl2019-02-07 09:30

Part 1: Experiencing Cities (p.3-101)

christina2019-02-21 08:40

this is one of my favorite books from college. it taught me to see the world in a whole new way.

Lois2019-01-23 04:29

Probably the best book on place that's ever been written in this country. Looking forward to his new book next!

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